Div. I baseball championship: Hawks soar to third straight crown

PAWTUCKET — On Tuesday night, they won with a dramatic extra-inning comeback. So on Wednesday night, the Hendricken baseball team took it easy on its fans’ nerves and methodically rolled to its third consecutive state title.

PAWTUCKET — On Tuesday night, they won with a dramatic extra-inning comeback.

So on Wednesday night, the Hendricken baseball team took it easy on its fans’ nerves and methodically rolled to its third consecutive Division I state title.

Taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, the Hawks added another run in the second, then broke the game open with four runs in the sixth. The 6-0 win completed a sweep of their best-of-three state title series against La Salle at McCoy Stadium.

On Tuesday night, the Hawks had taken a 1-0 lead in the series with a 7-6, eight-inning victory that came when they rallied for two runs after having two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the eighth.

Wednesday night’s victory not only gave the Hawks their third straight state title, but also their ninth state crown in the past 12 years.

The Hendricken fans were able to sit comfortably in their seats after the Hawks jumped out to the early 2-0 lead thanks to a sensational pitching performance from junior Anthony Cofone.

Cofone, the Hawks No. 2 starter in the playoffs, shut out the Rams on five hits. He needed only 88 pitches for his complete-game effort.

“He pitches to contact,” veteran Hendricken pitching coach Bill Campbell offered about Cofone. “We have the defense; he just needed to throw strikes.”

That’s exactly what Cofone did as he issued only one walk in seven innings of work.

“He’s cool, he doesn’t get rattled out there,” Hendricken head coach Ed Holloway said of Cofone, who missed a few weeks in the middle of the season after a line drive struck his knee. “He throws strikes and he mixes them up.”

Hendricken's run production Wednesday night started the same way it ended Tuesday night, with John Toppa delivering. Toppa hit a dramatic two-out, two-run walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday night.

He gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead Wednesday night, when he singled home Ryan Rotundo from second with one out in the first inning.

La Salle threatened in the bottom of the first as C.J. Dandeneau belted a two-out triple to the right-field corner. But Cofone kept the Rams off the scoreboard as he knocked down Tyler Shemick’s hard liner to the left side of the mound, giving shortstop John Willette a chance to pick up the loose ball behind the mound and fire to first for the final out.

Hendricken came right back and scored again in the top of the second. Brady Chant led off the inning with a single to center, moved to second on a bunt, then scored on Andrew Ciacciarelli’s double to right.

“Going into the playoffs, we sort of relied on a big hit here or there. But in the playoffs, we tried to get good team wins, getting guys on base and getting them over,” said Toppa, the junior third baseman who was named MVP of the tournament.

“Getting the three-peat is really cool, especially for the seniors,” said Toppa, who now has been a starter on a state championship team in each year of his high school career.

La Salle had another scoring chance in the bottom of the second with back-to-back hits from Tyler Walsh and Chris Perez with two outs, but Cofone forced a ground-out for the final out of the inning.

For the next three innings, both Cofone and Dandeneau, the La Salle starter, were in control as Dandeneau shutout the Hawks on two hits and Cofone didn’t give up a hit.

But Hendricken took most of the remaining suspense out of the contest in the top of the sixth as the Hawks scored four runs on five hits.

Toppa led off the inning with a triple to the right-field corner and scored a few minutes later on Chant’s single. Dante Baldelli, Kevin Sutyla and Sam Boulanger also had hits in the inning for the Hawks, coupled with a La Salle error and a hit batsman.

The Hawks finished the night with 13 hits. The victory gave Hendricken its 19th state baseball title since 1977.